It took me longer to actually get to writing this than I thought, but summer break is finally here! For real, I mean.
Thanks for the comments on the first chapter! This one is pretty short, and the next should be longer again. I hope you enjoy it:)
Chapter 2: …is neither dream nor reality
xxx
"What the hell was that!" Naruto yelled, trying to ignore the fact that he was crouched above Sasuke's body on the ground. "Don't tell me what to do, look what happened!"
"Nothing happened, now get off me" Sasuke snarled, pushing at Naruto's chest.
Bristling with anger and possibly something else he refused to acknowledge, Naruto got up and crossed his arms.
"We didn't even teleport! That's how much you messed it up!"
He could see the tick in Sasuke's eye, but refused to back down when dark eyes narrowed to slits as Sasuke rose to his feet.
"Don't even think about-"
Sasuke's words came to an abrupt halt as he took in their surroundings.
"What?" Naruto demanded, looking around them and seeing nothing out of the ordinary.
"I think we did teleport."
"Huh? But we're still in the same place…" Naruto trailed off, frowning as he turned his head back and forth as he scanned the area. "What happened to this place?"
"You mean what didn't happen" Sasuke corrected him, wary as he took note of the fresh, green grass covering the entire clearing, all trees looking healthy with no signs of the damage their training had caused.
"This is kinda scary" Naruto said with a grimace, turning slowly in a circle, fingers clenching around the fabric of his jacket. "But we're still in the same place, right?"
"Looks like it."
Naruto unconsciously inched closer to Sasuke, switching to sage mode so he could check the place for chakra.
"I can still feel Konoha" he said, noticing several familiar chakra signals. "Uuh, wait, I think I can feel Orochimaru."
Sasuke gave him a look that clearly told him he was stupid.
"You know he's allowed to enter the village now" he said, wincing when Naruto's anger flared again and he shouted "I know that!" louder than necessary.
Then Naruto's eyes widened, and stared at Sasuke for so long that he almost got a little worried.
"Do you think we travelled in time?" he whispered, face a shade paler.
"That's impossible."
Naruto swallowed, slipping out of sage mode and shaking his head as if to get rid of whatever he'd felt.
"Alright, but something here is pretty fucked up."
Sasuke frowned at him, then turned to search for his sword. It wasn't there.
"Well there's no point standing here speculating" he said, walking towards the village, Naruto unhappily following behind.
They reached the village gates without any incidents, no one taking notice of them as they entered through them.
"It looks a little different" Naruto muttered, and Sasuke was inclined to agree.
Making their way through the crowd on the main street they searched for a familiar face that maybe could explain what was going on. At one point Sasuke blinked, turning his head to catch sight of a person they'd just passed.
"What is it?" Naruto asked, turning as well, but Sasuke shook his head.
He'd thought he'd seen… but no, that was impossible. Unless they really had travelled through time, which sounded more than a little crazy to him. Sure, they were strong, but time? Nonsense.
"Oh look, there's Ino."
Naruto pulled Sasuke with him towards a flower shop, where Ino was busy arranging some flowers by the entrance. When they reached her she looked up, surprised for a moment before smiling shyly at them.
"Sasuke-kun, Menma-kun, I thought you were still on a mission?"
Sasuke didn't really know how to react, not that he got any time since Naruto quickly grabbed his arm and squeezed it in warning.
"Hey Ino, yeah we're uh, we just got back I mean."
Naruto looked a little wild around the eyes as Sasuke glanced at him, wondering why he was playing along and what he could possibly know that Sasuke didn't.
"That's nice." She smiled again, brushing her long blonde hair out of her face. "Oh, your mother came by just now, she should be home I think."
Naruto was nodding, still gripping Sasuke's arm tightly. He thanked Ino and started walking, pulling Sasuke with him impatiently.
"What's going-"
"This shouldn't be possible" Naruto murmured, glancing around them before bringing Sasuke with him into a small alley. "Really, really shouldn't be possible."
"Speak up dobe, I won't get it if you keep mumbling like that. Where the hell are we?"
Naruto's eyes caught his, mouth open as if to finally explain but no words came out. Closing it again he shook his head slowly, worrying his lip between his teeth. Sasuke didn't enjoy being kept hanging.
"Tell me. Now."
"Okay but you're not going to like it. I've been here before."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that.
"I think we've both been in Konoha before."
Naruto let out a frustrated noise, one hand gripping his hair, the other still wrapped around Sasuke's wrist.
"This isn't Konoha. I mean, not our Konoha. Madara sent me here. I mean Obito. Well okay Madara was controlling him but-"
Placing one hand over Naruto's mouth, Sasuke narrowed his eyes dangerously as he leaned in.
"You do realize that Madara is dead, right? And I doubt Obito would send us here as a joke, so if you don't mind, could you tell me where exactly we are then?"
Blue eyes stared at him helplessly.
"I'm not sure" he said, the words muffled under Sasuke's palm. "I thought it was a genjutsu, like the moon thing."
"The infinite tsukuyomi, you mean."
"Whatever. This place is like Konoha but people are different, and the things that happened are different."
"Like what."
"You're really calm you know, Sakura and I kinda freaked out when we got here."
Sasuke removed his hand, placing it beside the idiot's head instead. Patience is a virtue, they say.
At least Naruto started talking, explaining how he and Sakura had gotten there, how they'd met everyone's fake copies that were them but not really, how Naruto's parents were alive, how he'd fought his alter ego who also had the kyuubi…
"Itachi what?" he interrupted him with at one point, voice toneless and mouth dry as Naruto gave him a look that was far too understanding.
"Look, Sasuke, whatever people are here they're not the ones in our world, okay? We just need to figure out a way to get back. Last time we had to beat Menma, but this time we got here by ourselves so… At least I think we did?"
"If you hadn't tried to interfere with my rinnegan we wouldn't be here, so yes I'm fairly certain you got us here."
"Teme! You're the one who wouldn't let me try out my idea!"
They glared at each other, neither too happy being stuck in some strange world and not knowing how to get back.
"Hey! Maybe it works if we just do the same thing again?"
Sasuke doubted that. When Naruto screwed up, it was rarely as simple as going back and doing the same thing again. Maybe it would even get worse.
"Come on, I know you can't think of anything better right now!"
But oh, how he wished he could. He trudged after the moron, not surprised this time when he saw someone walking past them wearing the Uchiha symbol on their back. He scrutinized the places they passed, shops and houses looking almost the same as he'd gotten used to the past year.
"Come on, Sasuke, hurry up!"
Naruto seemed uncharacteristically urgent about leaving. Something must have happened to make him not want to go back to this place, and Sasuke found himself wondering what. If even Itachi was here… how bad could it really be?
"Kyaaa! It's Sasuke-kun! He's back!"
He froze, as well as Naruto, both of them turning towards the female voices with horror.
"We need to run" Naruto whispered, panicked eyes trying to find an escape route in the mass of people around them.
There were few things that made Sasuke scared or nervous. There were, however, a lot of things that made him uncomfortable. Large groups of girls were one of those things, and as they mysteriously got surrounded before they could even take a few steps, he felt highly uncomfortable.
"Sasuke-kun, it's been so long! Did your mission go well?"
"Don't talk to him!"
"I can talk to him if I want to, we went on a date remember?!"
"Oh please, Sasuke promised me a date once he got back. Right Sasuke-kun?"
Sasuke stared at one of the girls, a short one with curly dark hair, and wondered why he'd ever agree to a date with her.
"Menma!"
The angry shout caused Naruto to wince visibly, and Sasuke followed his line of vision to see Hinata stomping towards them, rolling up her sleeves, body barely covered by tiny shorts and a fishnet top. Well, that was definitely different from the usual Hinata.
"Just what do you think you're doing with all these girls!" Lilac eyes changed into white byakugan, her hand coming up to grab the front of Naruto's jacket. "I'd kill you if you weren't you!"
Alright, maybe he could understand why Naruto wanted to leave this Konoha as soon as possible.
"Ah Hinata, let go, I was just out walking with Sasuke…"
"Are you handing in the mission report?" The question was demanded rather than asked, and Naruto nodded weakly. "I'll escort you there. And you," she glared at Sasuke, "better behave."
Not really sure what was going on, but at least saved from his supposed alter ego's crazy girlfriends, Sasuke followed quietly, ignoring Naruto's silent screams for help as Hinata lectured him. Maybe she and Sakura had switched places personality wise. It made him wonder if everyone had switched personalities, which might explain things. None of his training had prepared him for something like this, and Sasuke didn't enjoy dealing with it. Cursing the dobe inside his mind he waited for Hinata to finish outside the Hokage tower, sending her an equally dirty look as the one she sent him before leaving. Bitch. What did he ever do to her.
"I guess sneaking out isn't an option anymore…"
Sasuke shrugged, pushing past Naruto to enter the building. They might as well get this over with.
Inside Tsunade's office, he wasn't expecting her to watch them calmly from behind black glasses, her desk void of the usual piles of paperwork. Or maybe he should have. They were in reverse-Konoha after all.
"Menma, Sasuke, you're not supposed to be back for another week" she said, frowning when Naruto fidgeted and Sasuke stood impassive. "Did something happen?"
"Well, yeah, remember the whole thing with the Red Moon Scroll? I'm not Menma and I kinda ended up here again, with Sasuke, yeah…" He rubbed the back of his neck, a sheepish grin on his face.
"We just need a way to get back" Sasuke added.
Tsunade looked concerned as she moved her glasses higher up her nose.
"Kushina did tell me about the 'other' Menma, but I didn't think you would return. And this time you brought Sasuke instead of Sakura?"
"It was an accident okay?" Naruto crossed his arms defiantly, sending Sasuke a look as if to dare him to tell him it was all his fault again.
"We were experimenting with teleportation. Somehow, I think Naruto's hiraishin and my rinnegan mixed and we ended up here."
"Yeah! What he said!"
Tsunade blinked a couple of times, clasping her hands in front of her.
"You possess the rinnegan?" she asked Sasuke, who nodded once in response. "And a Menma who can use the hiraishin to the extent of entering our world… But I don't recall you knowing how to use it last time."
"I learnt it a few months ago" Naruto told her, rocking back and forth on his heels a few times. "So, do you think you can help us?"
Tsunade hummed in thought, looking between them curiously.
"Personally, I don't know anything about teleportation. You'd have to ask Minato, as well as Obito."
"Obito is alive?!"
"Idiot, he's alive in our world too."
Naruto kicked him for that. It even hurt a bit.
"And where are they?" Naruto asked, seemingly eager to get this over with.
"On their respective missions. Well, Obito isn't easy to get a hold of, but Itachi or Shisui might know. Minato should be back in a week."
So it was true, Itachi really was alive and so was Shisui. What kind of world was this, where the massacre of his clan had never happened?
He heard Naruto slump next to him, muttering to himself. He tried to remain passive, like all of this was just a strange dream and they'd soon go back to their own world where everything was normal and girls preferred to admire him from afar. Very much afar.
But the fact still remained.
He was going to meet Itachi again.
I rewatched the Road to ninja movie just before writing this. I hope you've watched it, or you might be a little confused. I'll try to keep the characters as they are showed in the movie, but for the ones that aren't shown I'll just come up with something. Anyway, it's going to be hilarious when Sasuke meets his alter ego eventually. Let's hope we don't need to break down and cry when he meets Itachi.
Also, Obito is going to get through this mess that is the latest chapters because I need that KakaObi, dammit, and nothing will ruin my dreams.
So yeah, what did you think? :3